The Situation of my Spirt

Sorry if anyone actually its trying to keep up with my life, but its hard enough for me to keep up with it myself. The time is going fast, but im finding lots of things to keep my busy, like learning hebrew, working, reading, traveling etc etc. oh and knitting.



I cant compain too much, im going to the beach in January

Happy Hannukah

there it is, my pride and joy. my very own hannukia. made from cardboard, paint and hot glue.

Ruth in arabic means cowshit.

this is my home, number 86, its removed from most of the other dorms, and theres hellas bike.

I havent been blogging much because im busy. I wake up at seven everymorning, to either learn hebrew, or work until 4. After that im free but ussually tired so i end up studying, or reading. Ocassionally when the weathers nice i wander up the hill to the ruins. (Right to Left ) Alex from Kentucky, Fillipo from Italy and Hella from germany watch the sunset. Beautiful

despite this computer moving desperatley slow, time is moving quite fast here.

Remember if you love me:

Ruth Eddy

Ulpan Kibbutz Tzuba

Jerusalem Hills

90870, Israel

The holy land.

Im settling in semi smoothly. Today was a beautiful day. The past few have been FREEZING! FYI everyone: jerusalem is cold! I heard that the amount of rain we have received this past week, is equal to about 3 regular winters. But alas ha yom ha shemesh zorahat (today sunshine). After hebrew six of us headed down the path, past the vineyard, past the orchard, past the 14th centuary ruins to ..... the grocery store! I brought my camera along...





if you click on the pictures they get really big, and you can sort of see the intricate landscapes in the backround, also i didnt have something else in the pomegranate picture so you can compare sizes, but ill just tell you that they were HUGE/GADOLAH! this is the land of the pomegranate in fact there are several trees on the kibbutz, im not sure if its the cleanest but i have snacked on a few, straight from the tree (also did you know they grow on trees?, they looked funny hanging i dont know how i thought they grew, i just never pictured them on a tree)

The facts:
i work 3 days a week for eight hours a day as of now doing dishes...
i learn hebrew 3 days a week for eight hours
i get saturdays off
i get 12 shekels a day to spend at the ohel on food
i live with 2 other girls (a german and an american from D.C)
out of 243 kibbutz in israel, 70 are socialist, one of those 70 is tzuba
i have 14 days to leave and still get my money
my room number is 86
my laundry number is 261
my food number is 4

Things i want:
belt
scarf
slippers
external hard drive.

i think thats the basics, if ive left something important out, ask and i will answer.

hope all you americans voted, wisely.
-Root

Rain

well, im here
the superjew sitting next to me on the plane stank, and the cab ride was a fourtune compared to the 60 rupees im used to but other than that, all is well. I dont want to say much because i dont know much, but things for now seem very mello. i have two roomates, a german i havent met and victoria, a indiana graduate from D.C. it reminds me a lot of summer camp. Thats all i really know for now, im anxious to get a aquainted with the place, but i really miss sambhavna. I know that israel will be a good experience, but had i known how amazing my month in india would have been ahead of time, i might have planned differently se la vi. Im excited to go back, and eager to give israel a chance.

I to I : India to Israel

my goodness.

blogging is hard when your having so much fun. Even now i cant resist a game of 500 rummy with dede, alizarin, victoria and victoria.

i got my nose pierced! with alizarin! it was super exciting, it was for about 75 cents and a man basically just stuck a piece of sliver in my nose twisted it up and called it a piercing.  It was actually really scary, didnt hurt that bad, i guess i just built it up a lot in my mind, and my adreneline was going crazy, needless to say i blacked out for a minute, after walking around before i was ready. I was well taken care of with some snacks, time, and water. i was totally fine after but it was just a little exciting there for a second.

Today a lady from NPR came and interviewed us, so look for a story about sambhavna, closer to december, maybe there will be some ruth sound bites. interviews galore here, its a media frenzy here.

Anyway a lot more has happened but its too late to remember the details for the story to be exciting at all.

Its crazy to be leaving ive had so much fun, and have made so many friends, i really ended up loving this clinic so much more than i ever thought i would.  I said it to the NPR lady and i really meant it when i said i wanted to come back for sure, hopefully within the next ten years.  i love it here, and i love my girls, but im excited to go, and im not sure if id be able to leave not knowing that im comming back in april.

interjection, i just got had an awesome round of rummy, i won.

anyway i suppose youll hear from me next in the land of milk and honey.

From Factory to Fame.

The past few days have been filled with the widest variety of activities.

We went to visit the UCC factory. The experience was irreplaceable. To actually see the factory, to see the tank that leaked over 40 tons of MIC that killed thousands of people, still just sitting in the grass, just crazy. Seeing a corroded pipe and knowing what it was responsible for, its hard to put all the information together, and see it in front of you. Almost nothing has been done to clean up the plant. Children play in the unknown chemicals freely and various animals come to graze on the toxic fauna. Its ridiculous.

On a Much lighter note, though a string of connections, we were asked to be extras in a bollywood film! Recreating an American library, the crew used a staircase, and hung up whats on everyones walls at home in the us, the preamble, a giant picture of JFK and ofcourse g washington a lincoln t roosevelt the ussual crew. Alizarin was walking down the stairs just infront of the actor, dede up the stairs after, and i was standing on the landing talking to my professor. who was actually not american at all, he was french, but he was white, so they used him. It was awesome, we each got 1,000 ruppees too (20 bucks)! the movie is called Rajneeti, and it comes out in april or may, so maybe well be able to see it while were still in india.

Also there is ping pong table at the clinic. last night, the three of us played for an hour, i beat alizarin and dede one after another for about 18 games. It was awesome.

We celebrated Diwali, wich we have read Obama light a ceremonial candle for. We mostly spent the day relaxing and hanging out with our volunteer family. We cooked western breakfeast for everyone (pancakes and french toast with a fruit salad), and Roopa our roomate and awesome ayurvedic doctor friend, helped us cook eggplant for dinner, it was delicious. The fireworks went off non stop, it sounded like a war with LOUD booming from all directions, and were sure there were lots of casualties, because india is so dense, and people set off these intense fireworks in their backyard with zero saftey precautions.

Its been loads of fun, and like ive said we are learning sooo much. My ticket for israel is for the 28th which is ten days, i cant believe the time has flown that fast. Im having such an amazing experience i dont want to leave, but at the same time im ready to be on my own, and on to a new adventure. I know that these girls will be having so much fun thoughout the next couple of months, and ill be sad to be away from them, and all the new friends weve made.